New Jersey

Connected to New Jersey

At Bank of America, we're committed to helping grow local economies and strengthen the communities we serve. By combining local support and expertise with our national reach, we're connecting customers and communities across the country to the resources they need to thrive.

Lisa Bucheski: This is home, because of the ownership and the family and the loyalty. The drivers feel that the office employees feel that.

SUPER: BOB FREGA, SENIOR CLIENT MANAGER, BANK OF AMERICA

Bob Frega: They sell reliability; they sell teamwork, which is why they are so successful.

Chris Grato: Sandy. The name heard a lot, right? I don’t think anybody is prepared to walk into it. I don’t even like talking about it, but that’s what it is. We came into about a hundred trucks saltwater damages or on fire. Literally as we’re walking in they’re in flames. That was a sight.

Lisa Bucheski: It was complete devastation here between the trucks that were burned in the yard and our offices that were basically destroyed.

Kyle Grato: Here you have a very stable company and then literally snap of a finger you have nothing.

Stephanie Grato: It was a nightmare. It was an emotional time.

Chris Grato: The shock subsides, and then you have to do business.

Stephanie Grato: Our customers, they’ve always stood by us, and we owe it to them to get them their freight. We weren’t gonna let a storm to close up shop

Chris Grato: I was on the phone with bank of America within 48 hours. We need trucks what do we do? How do we get this ball moving?

Bob Frega: We got a call saying we need fifty some odd trucks. Our approval process could be cumbersome, but when we have to move we move. We put the transaction together and financed all those trucks.

Chris Grato: Within three days we had 25 brand new tucks all because of bank of America.

Stephanie Grato: Little by little as the days went on, we started building our fleet back.

Bob Frega: Because they had access to the capital they needed to get the trucks, they had the wherewithal and the knowledge to get their trucks up and running. They didn’t miss a beat. It’s a bright future for International Motor Freight.

Chris Grato: We started truck numbers over. Before the storm we were at 183, and to go back to number 1 with the baggage it represents, it’s a fresh start; a new beginning.

From Destruction to Expansionbankofamerica1359940|enter782|cr-en402_self1359940|enter782|2014_859||1359940|enter782|2014_581||1359940|enter782|2014_00||

communityfoodbankofnjdefaultPlayertrueblack/assets/images/partnering-locally/articles/the-community-food-bank-of-new-jersey_092712_878x494.jpg|People preparing food at The Community Food Bank of New Jersey|From the Trunk of a Car, an Inspiration to Feed Millions ||

BANK OF AMERICARTP- New Jersey- Community Food Bank-As Produced Video Transcript

Kathleen DiChiara: I started in 1975 out of the back of my car.

SUPER: Kathleen DiChiara, Founder/CEO, The Community Food Bank of New Jersey

Kathleen DiChiara: I gave out my home phone number to local hospitals, to the local welfare department, any place I could think of, and said “If you know of somebody without food, tell them to call me. ”And then, companies began to call me and said, “Can you take a trailer-load of food?” I didn’t have a warehouse, but of course I said yes.

SUPER: Robert Doherty, New Jersey Market President, Bank of America

Robert Doherty: Kathleen is probably the main reason that I got so excited and that I got so involved with the Community Food Bank. She would hate to be described this way but she’s really a living legend here in New Jersey.

Kathleen DiChiara: We’re reaching over nine hundred thousand people in New Jersey annually. I have a staff now of about a hundred and forty-seven, three warehouses, a fleet of trucks, and twenty-six thousand volunteers. We distribute about thirty-nine million pounds of food. We partner with after-school programs and provide a hot meal, five days a week.

Robert Doherty: I’ve never met a person with more compassion and more drive, and who’s really built up a grassroots efforts into an amazing organization.

Kathleen DiChiara: We have Robert on our Board of Directors. And any time that I have a question about something, I can shoot Bob an email and I’ll get a response right away.

Robert Doherty: Community Food Bank operates a food service training academy, which trains people how to work in kitchens, it helps place them in various food service organizations or restaurants.

Kathleen DiChiara: There were jobs in the food industry where someone without a lot of formal education could have a career not just a job.

SUPER: Ada Martinez, Client, The Community Food Bank of New Jersey

Ada Martinez: I was struggling to make ends meet. I was in the projects, ducking gunfire, it was terrible and that’s not what I wanted for my children. I wanted them to know that there’s something better than this. You can work for it. And work hard. Yeah, it’s hard, but, I wanted to teach my kids that you don’t have to stay down all the time.

(V/O)Kathleen DiChiara: Bank of America has been such a wonderful friend for a number of years now. They have these wonderful volunteers that come.

SUPER: Sierra Singh, Volunteer

Sierra Singh: It feels good to give back to your community especially because we all live around the same area.

SUPER: Nichelle Lane, Volunteer

Nichelle Lane: Whenever we have the chance to give back I think it’s always important to do so.

(V/O)Kathleen DiChiara: It’s so hard out there for so many people. And, it is such an uphill battle. But I get to see and experience tremendous goodness. And that keeps me going.

From the Trunk of a Car, an Inspiration to Feed Millions/en-us/partnering-locally/the-community-food-bank-of-new-jersey.htmlView Videobankofamerica1359940|enter782|cr-en402/en-us/partnering-locally/the-community-food-bank-of-new-jersey.html_self1359940|enter782|2014_859||1359940|enter782|2014_581||1359940|enter782|2014_00||

virgomedicalservicesdefaultPlayertrueblack/assets/images/partnering-locally/local-markets-3/video-stills/virgo-medical-services_07272012_878x494.jpg|Virgo Medical Services EMT writing on a clipboard|Determination Spells Success for a Burgeoning Business ||

BANK OF AMERICARTP- NEW JERSEY VIRGO- AS PRODUCED TRANSCRIPT

SUPER: Ahmed Hassan, Owner and President, Virgo Medical

Ahmed Hassan: There’s a lot of opportunity in this country. You have to know what you want to do. You have to believe in it. And you just have to go after it.

V/O(Ahmed Hassan): Virgo Medical started in 1998. We transport people on wheelchairs, and the elderly to medical clinics, hospitals.

SUPER: Antonio Agosto, COO, Virgo Medical

Antonio Agosto: This is actually one of the best stories, cause it’s like the American dream come true.

Ahmed Hassan: Actually we’re from, my family’s from Sudan. And that’s one of the reasons that made me get into the industry. Because when I used to go to school I was paying as a foreign student. So I wasn’t getting financial aid or any loans, and that’s where I figured, ‘Hey man, that’s not gonna make it.’

Antonio Agosto: Ahmed decided to buy a van. A wheelchair van.

Ahmed Hassan: You’re there to help. And I think I gave it a hundred and ten percent. Since it was a one on one report with the patient, they appreciated that. You know you’re talking about people that are ill, and elderly. I mean, come from a culture where we have to respect the elderly. These are people that served us, when they were younger, when they were our age. And it’s time we pay back.

Antonio Agosto: We take care of our patients. With the concept of, ‘Maybe, this is your mother.’ We’ve provided a lot of jobs in this economy. We don’t hire anyone. We adopt them into our family.

Ahmed Hassan: From two employees, we are ninety-two employees today.

SUPER: Domenico Martignetti, Client Relations, Bank of America

Domenico Martignetti: A lot of small businesses are all family run. I understand where they’re coming from. I’m a first-generation Italian-American. My dad came here with two hundred bucks in his pocket.

Ahmed Hassan: I started this at the basement of my cousin’s house. There was a Bank of America down the road and I figured, ‘Hey, you know what, I’ll just go and open up a bank account.’ I got my first line of credit- twenty-five thousand. I remember that was a lot of money.

Domenico Martignetti: They were growing very quickly. Recently they just landed this huge fourteen million dollar contract. We were able to increase their line of credit, provide a lease line to help add additional ambulances, help them set up direct deposit accounts for their employees.

Ahmed Hassan: Bank of America played a huge role in our world. They believed in us.

Antonio Agosto: think they understand that we’re here to help people. They want to be a part of that. Ahmed started a business. Bank of America went ahead and helped him.

Ahmed Hassan: It is the epitome of the American dream. And I’m proud for the opportunity that I’ve been given, coming to the states. And I’m happy. Thank Go

trinitasregionalmedcenterdefaultPlayertrueblack/assets/images/partnering-locally/local-markets-3/video-stills/trinitas-regional-medical-center_07272012_878x494.jpg|Nurse in blue scrubs looking out window with arms crossed at Trinitas Regional Medical Center|Inspiring the Next Generation of Medical Professionals in New Jersey ||

V/O (Nadine Brechner): Trinitas Regional Medical Center is in the fourth largest city in New Jersey; in Elizabeth.

SUPER: Nadine Brechner, Chief Development Officer, Trinitas

Nadine Brechner: The teen centered in our community face everything that teens everywhere face, you know? We’ve got the drugs, we’ve got the alcohol, we have teen pregnancy… And the reason that we started our career exploration series of programs is because we wanted to provide career exploration opportunities for the teens in Elizabeth.

SUPER: Jasmine Montes, Program Graduate, Trinitas

Jasmine Montes: My goal was to become a doctor. But, I wanted to know if that’s what I really wanted to do. So I had to experience a hospital setting. And Nursing Camp was a great opportunity.

Nadine Brechner: They actually go into an operating room, they visit patients, they get to see some procedures. And they get an inkling whether or not this would be the right profession for them.

Jasmine Montes: I just continued. That’s how I went to Medical Mentorship, CNA, Unit Coordinator…Then I knew, for sure, a hundred percent that this is what I wanted to do. And I just wanted to continue. And take opportunity of everything.

SUPER: Patricia Haydu, RN, Lead Instructor of Nurse Camp, Trinitas

Patricia Haydu: Jasmine started here, as a volunteer. And, the hospital just offered her a job. And she started working here two weeks ago.

Nadine Brechner: I have to say that we would not have our Career Exploration Program if it wasn’t for Bank of America. They have been our funder, since the beginning; from the inception of the program. And they really understood what it was like in our community, for our teens.

SUPER: Etta Denk, CSR Market Manager, Bank of America

Etta Denk: Besides actually providing financial services to the hospital itself, we actually support their Career Explorers program. As well as we have volunteers that come in and volunteer their own time. Bank of America realizes that by investing in our youth, we’re investing in the greater good, the long-term benefits that will come as a result of that. We’re giving the students here in Elizabeth an advantage, that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

Patricia Haydu: When she graduated and she was number two in the graduating class at Edison Academy, she deserved it; cause she worked so hard for that.

Nadine Brechner: We have a hundred percent pass rate for our Unit Secretary program, we have almost always a hundred percent pass rate of our nurses. So we know that the programs are working. We know we have Bank of America to thank for that. Because we obviously did not have the money here at Trinitas to offer those programs without their support.

Jasmine Montes: All of the programs I attended, I feel like each of them gave me something new. Like the confidence, the ability to talk to people, network, and just know for sure that that’s what I wanted to do. My ultimate goal is to become a doctor. Get accepted into medical school, and become a pediatrician. That’s the goal.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Medical Professionals in New Jersey/en-us/partnering-locally/trinitas-regional-medical-center.htmlView Videobankofamerica1359940|enter782|cr-en402An after school program is inspiring the next generation of medical professionals in New Jersey./en-us/partnering-locally/trinitas-regional-medical-center.html_self1359940|enter782|2014_859||1359940|enter782|2014_581||1359940|enter782|2014_00||

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